Groceries

If you leave a bag of groceries behind at the supermarket, who gets the food? It's not an inconsequential question. Supermarket operators say perishable and non-perishable items are left behind every week in customers' rush to load up carts and leave stores. That food is typically put back on shelves and resold unless the customer returns, receipt in hand, to claim it. If no one turns up, supermarkets can - and often do - sell the same items twice, doubling their profit. Is that appropriate?

Dinner was nearly on the table, but Veronica Nuno had forgotten ingredients for the salad. The 54-year-old Altadena resident headed for a nearby market, warning her husband, "We're going to pay an arm and a leg. " Nuno, a teacher, usually treks to the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Rosemead for food bargains - sometimes seeing prices half what is charged at other groceries. She is counting down the months until the Wal-Mart grocery opens in her hometown. But not all her neighbors share her view.

Putting aside their big-box ways, giant retailersWal-Mart Stores Inc.andTarget Corp.are going urban with a new look and a metro-oriented feel as they expand in Southern California, starting this weekend. Locally grown produce is in plentiful supply. Grab-and-go sandwiches are ready. And many of the shopping carts are smaller. Grand opening signs are in place. Patio furniture is nowhere in sight. The discount chains are hustling to expand as big-box retailers race to slide smaller stores into dense city neighborhoods, putting them head-to-head against dollar stores and local markets already there.

Lest men get lost in the feminine hygiene section or the towering array of probiotic yogurts, a New York grocery store has created a testosterone haven: a so-called man aisle stocked with all the goods a dude could desire. It's a supermarket man cave of sorts, according to the New York Post . The dedicated aisle at Westside Market NYC features steak sauce, condoms, booze, deodorant, razors and other gentlemanly necessities. The grocery store's selection of beer sits next to the special section, dubbed the "Aisle of Man. " Elsewhere in the market, customers can find more evolved fare, such as Apollinaris sparkling mineral water imported from Germany, organic produce and Kashkaval cheese.

Massive swaths of Midwest farmland are suffering through one of the most widespread droughts in history, causing corn prices to soar as the USDA scales back its predictions for a record crop. Corn farmers are expected to yield an average of 146 bushels an acre - a 20-bushel drop from the Department of Agriculture's June estimate . Coupled with intense demand for the plant - it is a key component in a panoply of consumer foods and goods - analysts now fear that supermarket goods including meat, vitamins, textiles and anything made with corn syrup will become more expensive.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has announced plans to open a Neighborhood Market grocery store in Altadena, part of a concerted push by the world's largest retailer into the competitive California supermarket business. The 28,000-square-foot store will be located at the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Figueroa Drive in a space once occupied by a thrift store, the company said Thursday. “We think Wal-Mart can be part of the solution in the Altadena community for residents who want more affordable options close to home," said Steven Restivo, Wal-Mart's senior director for community affairs.

Grocery store chain Albertsons, a division of SuperValu Inc., is laying off as many as 2,500 workers at its supermarkets in Southern California and Nevada in an effort to slash costs amid slumping sales. The layoffs, which begin June 17, will affect a "small number" of employees at every Albertsons store in the two states, company spokeswoman Lilia Rodriguez said. The chain operates 213 supermarkets in California and 34 in Nevada. Rodriguez declined to comment on the number of lost jobs in Los Angeles, but said most payroll reductions will affect California.

Pam King's San Marino home has solar panels, a drought-resistant yard and an urban farm. Now she'd like some chickens to go with it. The city known as the wealthiest, quietest suburban enclave in the San Gabriel Valley doesn't allow residents to keep farm animals, but that may soon change. This month King asked the San Marino City Council to allow chickens on residential properties, and council members ordered a staff report. If San Marino goes to the birds, it would join Pasadena, South Pasadena and La Cañada Flintridge, which allow residents to keep fowl under strict guidelines.

Imagine you're a carpenter who has fallen on hard times. The city announces that it's giving away $100 gift certificates good for buying groceries to anybody who turns in a full set of construction tools. Are you going to hand in your hammers and saws and assure that you'll never work again? Only if you're exceptionally desperate or exceptionally stupid. This is the principle at play with the city of L.A.'s gun buyback program, which Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief Charlie Beck announced Friday.